Greek mythology still grabs the modern consciousness. Apollo and Dionysos, Artemis and Aphrodite, Zeus and Hermes—but what exactly did these divinities stand for? A team of international scholars offer fresh insight into the making and meaning of Greek mythology. They recount the stories and significance of individual gods and ask to what extent cult, myth, and literary genre determine the nature of divinity. How do Greek gods function within a polytheistic pantheon, and what is their connection to the heroes of their myths? What is the influence of philosophy and in what way do the gods of late antiquity differ from those of classical Greece? This volume presents a synchronic and diachronic view of these characters in the decades before Christianity.
Author(s): Jan N. Bremmer, Andrew Erskine
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 448
Copyright......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
PREFACE......Page 9
ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 11
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS......Page 15
ABBREVIATIONS......Page 20
Introduction THE GREEK GODS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY......Page 24
1 WHAT IS A GREEK GOD?......Page 42
PART I SYSTEMATIC ASPECTS......Page 64
2 CANONIZING THE PANTHEON: THE DODEKATHEON IN GREEK RELIGION AND ITS ORIGINS......Page 66
3 GODS IN GREEK INSCRIPTIONS: SOME METHODOLOGICAL QUESTIONS......Page 78
4 METAMORPHOSES OF GODS INTO ANIMALS AND HUMANS......Page 104
5 SACRIFICING TO THE GODS: ANCIENT EVIDENCE AND MODERN INTERPRETATIONS......Page 115
6 GETTING IN CONTACT: CONCEPTS OF HUMAN–DIVINE ENCOUNTER IN CLASSICAL GREEK ART......Page 129
7 NEW STATUES FOR OLD GODS......Page 149
PART II INDIVIDUAL DIVINITIES AND HEROES......Page 176
8 ZEUS AT OLYMPIA......Page 178
9 ZEUS IN AESCHYLUS: THE FACTOR OF MONETIZATION......Page 201
10 HEPHAISTOS SWEATS OR HOW TO CONSTRUCT AN AMBIVALENT GOD......Page 216
11TRANSFORMING ARTEMIS: FROM THE GODDESS OF THE OUTDOORS TO CITY GODDESS......Page 232
12 HERAKLES BETWEEN GODS AND HEROES......Page 251
13 IDENTITIES OF GODS AND HEROES: ATHENIAN GARDEN SANCTUARIES AND GENDERED RITES OF PASSAGE......Page 268
PART III DIACHRONIC ASPECTS......Page 294
14 EARLY GREEK THEOLOGY: GOD AS NATURE AND NATURAL GODS......Page 296
15 GODS IN EARLY GREEK HISTORIOGRAPHY......Page 341
16 GODS IN APULIA......Page 358
17 LUCIAN’S GODS: LUCIAN’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIVINE......Page 371
18 THE GODS IN THE GREEK NOVEL......Page 385
19 READING PAUSANIAS: CULTS OF THE GODS AND REPRESENTATION OF THE DIVINE......Page 398
20 KRONOS AND THE TITANS AS POWERFUL ANCESTORS: A CASE STUDY OF THE GREEK GODS IN LATER MAGICAL SPELLS......Page 411
21 HOMO FICTOR DEORUM EST: ENVISIONING THE DIVINE IN LATE ANTIQUE DIVINATORY SPELLS......Page 429
22 THE GODS IN LATER ORPHISM......Page 445
23 CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS AND GREEK GODS......Page 465
24 THE MATERIALITY OF GOD’S IMAGE: THE OLYMPIAN ZEUS AND ANCIENT CHRISTOLOGY......Page 488
PART IV HISTORIOGRAPHY......Page 504
25 THE GREEK GODS IN LATE NINETEENTH- AND EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY GERMAN AND BRITISH SCHOLARSHIP......Page 506
EPILOGUE......Page 528
INDEX......Page 534
